Attuning yourself to many frequencies enriches your life and leadership
There’s something restorative about starting the day with my dog and the birds. Rhythm with surprise. An analog start to what will likely be a digitally immersive day. It’s grounding.
Even on the same route, my dog Ollie always finds something fresh to sniff or someone new to engage with. It’s a reminder to stay curious. While he’s going low, I have an ear up high. Particularly in spring, the avian community is alive with robins, cardinals, red-winged blackbirds, and Baltimore orioles staking out territory before the trees fully leaf out.
As our walk ended recently, I realized someone was missing. Carolina wrens have been regular fixtures in the area, small birds with an outsized presence, and I heard none. Listen for what’s not there. Fortunately, later that morning, I heard a pair calling back and forth to each other. They were there. Just quiet for a while.
The lesson for leaders is to remember to listen. Two ears, one mouth, that ratio is there for a reason. There are many frequencies of information coursing through your organization: data, gossip, the practiced cadence of a presentation, and the silence of what’s being thought and felt but not spoken. Listen for what’s not there.
There’s no app for your organization the way Merlin helps me identify birdsong. Your team communicates on multiple frequencies: what they tell you, what they don’t, and what they only tell each other. The same is true of your suppliers and customers. Absent the app, you have to fine-tune your ability to receive. Get out of your office and wander. Engage beyond your direct reports. Question. Explore.
And be willing to let the sound come to you. One trick of birding is to stop pursuing and simply sit. Once you’re no longer perceived as a disturbance, the birds fill back in. A senior executive can cause the same disruption. Things go quiet until you normalize your presence.
At your next meeting, ensure everyone has a chance to weigh in. Probe for whose voice is missing. Encourage it. Most important, do something with what you learn. That’s the strongest signal to people that they’re being heard.
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